Comerica Bank may lay off employees and is evaluating its properties as it undergoes a nearly $11 billion acquisition, the company confirmed to KERA in an email.<\/p>\n
The news comes amidst a rapidly growing financial services sector in Dallas<\/a> that city officials<\/a> are hoping will attract businesses from Wall Street. The bank employs more than 1,000 people in Dallas<\/a> and is headquartered in Comerica Bank Tower on 1717 Main St. in Downtown Dallas. <\/p>\n The decision isn’t easy, but is necessary for sustainable growth, Comerica said in a statement to KERA. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are committed to treating all impacted employees with respect and providing resources to support them through this transition.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Fifth Third, the Ohio-based bank buying Comerica, told KERA in an email the company is evaluating its “real estate footprint” for efficiency. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile some changes are expected, we remain committed to maintaining a strong presence in Dallas,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Comerica Bank President and CEO Curt Farmer told The Dallas Morning News<\/a> in October the company’s future in downtown is \u201cyet to be fully determined,\u201d and the company was \u201cdiscussing possibilities with our landlords.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cClearly we want to be in Dallas, but the question is what part of Dallas do you end up in?\u201d Farmer told the Morning News.<\/p>\n If that means the company’s thinking about relocating from downtown Dallas, it wouldn’t be the first. AT&T, which employs over 10,000 people in Dallas, announced on Monday it would be relocating its headquarters from the city\u2019s core to Plano<\/a>.<\/p>\n Comerica moved into the Main Street tower in 2007 and is under an agreement to rent 222,000 square feet of office space until 2028, according to The Dallas Business Journal<\/a>. The building owners plan to redevelop the tower to add residential and hotel space, removing more than half of the 1.5 million square feet of office space.<\/p>\n